On the heels of taking first place in the Aerospace & Defense category at the 2023 Create the Future Design Contest, Zulu Pods has advanced in nearly every way imaginable — and the company shows no signs of slowing down (nor a desire to!) anytime soon.
“Since 2023, we've grown personnel-wise and also moved into a larger building with manufacturing space,” said Daniella Sladen, Co-Founder, CTO, Zulu Pods, which boasts executive offices in Coral Springs, FL, and an R&D facility in Northampton, MA. “We have more machineries equipment. We are selling hardware now. We are doing final qualification testing for some of our hardware and will be in full production next year. We’re a multi-product company now, so instead of just one product we've iterated to different products,” she added.
The company’s first product, ZPod, is a decentralized lubrication system that combines the function of a reservoir, pump, and nozzle into a single, self-contained, hermetically sealed, packaged oil delivery system used for missiles and drones. It is placed right in the working zone of the engine bearing or gear compartment, and meters the exact amount of lubrication for optimal performance. In fact, Zulu Pods was recently awarded a Phase 2 contract by the U.S. Army to continue development of its lubrication technology with two major engine OEMs, Sladen noted.
“Both my husband [Zulu Pods Co-founder Rob Sladen] and I have a background in aerospace engineering; we spent most of our careers in the world of jet engines. We saw an opportunity in the small engine market, where the lubrication system was overdesigned and not optimized for its mission,” said Sladen. “On a long car ride, with our kids sleeping in the back, we came up with the idea of a pod-like lubrication system for one-time use engines. We started this company because we lived the pain points of this problem and saw the gap to radically simplify engine architecture,” she added.
Following the Army deal, the company dipped its toes in the anti-corrosion waters — the maintenance, repair, and operations market — and now offers pods and other products that help with fleet readiness.
“I feel like 2023 was such a long time ago when I think about it, but it wasn't,” Sladen said. To further her point, the Create the Future Design contest was held in November — practically the end of 2023.
Zulu Pods’ increasing wins should come as a surprise to nobody. The company’s work ethic and employees make it no stranger to adversity nor plowing through it. The only thing more impressive than its growth is its resiliency.
“Like any company born in 2020, it was a fully remote company,” Sladen said. “Everyone was remote, but a lot of the people that we had tapped on the shoulder and come into contact with during our previous life working in New England were still in New England.”
“It all started with a garage build,” she added. “Somebody tested a rig in the garage — our chief technology officer now, his name is Todd. He was working in the garage, and then we graduated to kind of a barn garage space. He said, ‘I don't think I can test these things at this high speed in my basement much longer.’ So, we had to move into a real space, and then we grew from there.”
Grow, it did. Zulu Pods has since expanded to include the R&D facility in Northampton, MA.
“Selling our hardware is a big milestone for us this year and being in full production mode next year, it's been quite a journey,” Sladen said. “Because you need to step up in the technology levels and the qualifications, that's a pretty big milestone for us.”
This article was written by Andrew Corselli, Digital Content Editor, SAE Media Group. For more information , visit here .
For more information about the Create the Future Design Contest, visit here .
